Dec. 11, 2018
09:56 am JST

I'll just say one encompassing statement that would possibly cover all of the pros and cons: Foreign blue-collar workers in Japan are different in the following aspects: work ethics, morality, tolerance to injustice, loyalty to their employer, work-life balance and many more. I could imagine the foreign blue collar workers could be treated as the new burakumin in modern Japanese society. I had a neighbor who worked in Japan as a construction worker in Yokohama for 5 years and was treated fairly well even though he couldn't speak any Japanese.

Dec. 11, 2018
10:10 am JST

The cons are too many to be listed, and they are obvious. The pros are that many Japanese companies will be able to use cheap, albeit far lower quality, labour however this is far, far overshadowed over the massive problems they will bring.

Dec. 11, 2018
04:27 pm JST

Just another means of labor exploitation by the rich. Wage suppression is at the core of the economy's problem. This measure runs counter to the goal of compelling employers to pay their workers decent wages.

Dec. 12, 2018
01:38 am JST

Not many people from First World countries will come; the working conditions are not good, and salaries are low.

Salaries that were pretty decent 20 years for posts like English teacher when converted to foreign currencies (e.g. USD, GBP), are now pitifully low in comparison and the salaries have not increased. By contrast, the purchase tax has gone from a nominal 3% to a mighty 10%.

Dec. 12, 2018
07:43 am JST

One of the problems the Peruvians, Chileans and Brazilians had in the 80s and 90s was the lack of Japanese as a second language classes for them and their kids that were brought along with them. Quite a few kids dropped out of school.

Dec. 12, 2018
07:18 pm JST

They're for the corporations to pay people below Japanese standard of living. They are just being let in to be exploit. This is a globalist plan and the con is Japan will start looking like France with higher crime and lots of problems.

The media will virtue single (as they already do now) and say if you don't agree with the governments immigration policy you are a racist. So Japanese will be reluctant to speak up while they watch their country be destroyed by 21st century warfare.

Maybe it will wake up some more people and start a populous movement in Japan. That would be a pro.

Dec. 12, 2018
08:56 pm JST

Japan needs foreign workers as much as foreign workers need opportunity to build a better life for themselves, but the government has enacted vague laws, which give them the ability to treat people like gears, work them until exhausted then replaced. Nothing good will come out of this, in a few decades Japan will fulfilled what the movies prophesied, a dystopian-cyber-punk future.

Dec. 11, 2018
10:53 am JST

This is really a missed opportunity for Japan to overhaul the employment system to allow greater flexibility, reduced sex and age discrimination, and better pay and benefits for its own workers. Japan Inc seems to want to keep the sclerotic system in place for its own benefit and take advantage of foreign workers with little or no bargaining power.

Dec. 11, 2018
12:27 pm JST

Not many people from First World countries will come; the working conditions are not good, and salaries are low. Lots of people will come from Third World countries, because they will be duped into thinking they can make good, easy money in Japan. We all (well, sensible people) know what will happen. The driving down of wages and a "race to the bottom". Terrible day for the average Japanese worker.